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Re: club

Originally Posted by Morpheus

Guys, do you rest in/at the club?

Thanks :)

I'm not sure what you mean by 'rest', or 'club'. There is - especially in London - an institution called 'a gentleman's* club'. It's a mixture of a hotel and a social club. They date from the time when Society required somewhere to live in London for a few months. For the rest of the year people might have a house in the countryside. If business required a day or two in London (or in the case of the Houses of Parliament - where both the House of Commons and the House of Lords sit for only 4 and half days), people would stay at their club. So all these are possible:

I need to be in Town for a few days - I'll be staying at the club.

After my two meetings in the morning, I'll have a rest at the club before the three in the afternoon.

He's been in the club for several years, and he'll stay in the club for the rest of his life. [This refers to a simple social club - for example, a gardening club. And beware: 'in the club' can also mean 'pregnant'; so you have to be very careful that it's clear which club you mean if you say 'She's in the club'.]

b

*Since the mid '60s, there have been clubs that admit women members (and even - for all I know - women-only clubs). But in the hey-day of such establishments, their members were men.

Re: club

Shorter version: "at" if the club is a building; "in" if it's an abstract noun - generally. But use 'in' even for a building, if physical presence in the building is crucial: 'There were 120 people in the club when the fire started.'

The verb "rest" in English implies physical relaxation (the sort when the heart-rate goes down - so, not dancing). For your meaning we'd say 'unwind'/'take time out'/'have/take a break'.

Re: club

BobK, if I may ask, you don't usually say that you unwind/take time out at the (night)club, do you? You just say that you go to the nightclub (with all the implications).
Did I get it right?

And one more: does it sound OK by you if I say that I go to relax at the nightclub

You'd use 'unwind' in order to specify your reasons for going to a night club (which, as you suggest, is the common phrase): 'Why do you go to a night club?' 'Lots of reasons: to meet people, to spend time with friends, to have a good time... mostly, just to unwind.'

Re: club

Originally Posted by BobK

Shorter version: "at" if the club is a building; "in" if it's an abstract noun - generally. But use 'in' even for a building, if physical presence in the building is crucial: 'There were 120 people in the club when the fire started.'

Bob, that sounds weird to me. I was taught quite a different thing: we should use "at" if we speak about an activity taking place somewhere and "in" if we speak about a building. E.g. "I was at the theatre yesterday and saw "Hamlet"". "Where did you find the purse? - In the theatre".